Sharks waste early lead, lose preseason opener

The Sharks surrendered a twogoal lead in a 43 loss to Anaheim in the teams’ preseason opener at SAP Center on Tuesday night.

Timo Meier and Jonny Brodzinski scored the game’s first two goals, the first coming just 1:24 into the game. Brodzinki’s score came on the power play with 9:13 left in the first period.

The Ducks reeled off three straight goals in the second period before Joachim Blichfeld tied the game early in the third. Max Jones’ scorching shot into the top corner at the 6:43 mark proved the winner.

Aaron Dell started in goal for the Sharks. Josef Korenar finished the game.

The Sharks play at Calgary on Wednesday night.

Sexabuse reports on rise for center

The U.S. Center for SafeSport is fielding 55% more reports of sex abuse and other misconduct in 2019 than it did last year, leading to an increasingly urgent debate over who should provide the lion’s share of money to an organization struggling to manage its caseload.

This week, the 2½yearold center tasked with investigating sexabuse claims in Olympic sports received a $1.3 million infusion from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, bringing the USOPC’s overall contribution to $7.4 million in 2019.

The country’s national governing bodies, which oversee the individual Olympic sports, have contributed $2.05 million for this year, and including a small government grant and other donations, the center will operate on $10.5 million in 2019.

Officials at the center worry that’s an untenable amount for an organization that is now receiving an average of 239 reports a month, compared with 154 during a typical month last year. Out of those, the SafeSport Center has 1,290 open cases, with 2,237 that have been closed. It has 18 investigators and lawyers (with four vacancies) on a staff of 37 (with six vacancies) to handle them. The center projects it will need to double its staff next year and triple it by 2023 to keep up with the work. Soccer: On a night when Europe’s biggest stars couldn’t find a way to score, teenager Erling Braut Haaland made it look easy. The 19yearold Norwegian shone in his Champions League debut, scoring a hat trick as Salzburg beat Genk 62.

Meanwhile, Liverpool, Barcelona and Chelsea all failed to score in firstleg matches. Liverpool’s prolific front three of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane misfired as the European champion’s title defense started with a 20 loss to Napoli.

Chelsea was beaten 10 by Valencia, and even Lionel Messi couldn’t lift Barcelona to a win over Borussia Dortmund. In his first appearance of the season following a calf injury, Messi came off the bench to replace 16yearold Ansu Fati but couldn’t turn the tide in a 00 draw.

Ajax Amsterdam looked assured on its return to the Champions League group stage. Last season’s semifinalist got goals from new signings Quincy Promes and Edson Alvarez in a 30 win over Lille.